Standing with Greg Diez (left), Alfredo Pena and police Col. Arley Knight, Mayor A C Wharton apologizes Thursday for two incidents involving city police. One case involves an officer accused of stealing from a Latino driver during a traffic stop.

Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal

Mayor A C Wharton issued apologies to two groups Thursday over the conduct of Memphis police officers in recent days.

The first apology was addressed to those targeted by officer Lorenzo Couch, who was arrested Tuesday after allegedly robbing two Hispanic men of nearly $500 during a traffic stop Jan. 27.

Couch was charged with two counts of aggravated robbery and is being held on $150,000 bond.

In the news conference at City Hall, Wharton said neither he nor Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin, who was out of town Thursday, would tolerate such conduct.

"When any person singles out another individual because they feel that victim may be particularly vulnerable, that is animalistic and predatory," Wharton said.

"When a man or woman in blue wearing the badge of the Memphis Police Department uses that shield and blue uniform to take advantage ... that is the scum. That is the worst of the worst. We are not going to tolerate it," he added.

MPD Col. Arley Knight added that Couch may have robbed at least one more victim, asking that anyone with information come forward.

The second apology was to the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, whose members were still fuming over what they feel were intimidation tactics employed by local law enforcement during an incident Jan. 25.

MSPJC members were at their offices at the First Congregational Church in Cooper-Young, filling out requests to discover if the FBI or MPD had been keeping surveillance files on them.

At some point, the FBI's local Joint Terrorism Task Force arrived at the church, followed by MPD patrol cars and unmarked SUVs manned by TACT unit officers.

Police said they were trying to protect the group from any rabble-rousers, but members believe they were being targeted.

Wharton apologized to the group Thursday, saying that the situation may have arisen because of threats from the "Sovereign Citizen" movement. That is the group whose members killed two West Memphis police officers and injured two more last year.

"That matter was not handled in the way it should have been," Wharton said. "To the extent that the police presence caused some people to believe that their First Amendment rights were not being honored, we regret that."

MSPJC executive director Jacob Flowers said he appreciated the apology, but still doesn't accept the administration's explanation of what happened.

"It's good to hear the mayor is sorry for what happened at our office, but we do not buy his explanation," said Flowers, adding that the Sovereign angle had never been mentioned before. "A public apology is nice, but we want to make sure this doesn't happen again."